Pictures of my bday, our new home & a random drunk man.

A man passed out in the middle of a crowded market in Ulaanbaatar. people were just stepping over him--hardly noticed the drunk man.


my ger!! this is our home for two years!

our 'kitchen'. but a ger is all one room...

My new home! Our bed is too tiny for the both of us, so Justin sleeps on the floor. but he is pictured in the bed here. it was about 45 degrees this morning.

My bathroom. nice huh?

mongolian horses are so tiny!

Justin's first bite of cheese all summer long! he was so happy!

new shoes! my host family gave me and justin warm leather & camel wool slippers as a goodbye gift.

My host family at my 2nd surprise party.

Davajargle at my birthday feast (my 2nd surprise party put on by my host family!)

A hand painted set of chopsticks my two mongolian teachers gave me as a gift.

Eggplant Parmesan! my favorite dish, for my birthday!

A nice bday card that was signed by all of my friends. notice the cat, the cake and nailpolish-- they know me so well! :)

My very own Russian cake!

nice decorations for my birthday surprise party!

Hello Mandolgov!

So, (this is Justin btw) we arrived in Mandolgov last Saturday about 1:30 in the morning. I guess we got soft living next to the paved highway in Erdene, because that was the single bumpiest ride of my life. If anyone ever informs the "mikr" (Russian mini-buses) drivers of the money to be made in off-road racing, Mongolians will DOMINATE that sport. It was rather impressive the way he navigated the potholes and washouts every 50 feet for 300 km.

Anyway, we have been in Mandolgov for a week now and I really enjoy it. We are where the Gobi Desert begins and I think I may be the one person who got assigned to the desert that actually wanted to go there. My school seems pretty nice and I like all of the people I've met in town (except for one smart ass kid who always says something under his breath when he sees me, I'm going to snatch him up and spank his butt one day). We are currently debating on whether we should get internet for our ger (which is huge!) or not. It's kind of expensive (about $15/ month). Until next time...

Video of our arrival at Chinngis Khan Internation Airport--more to come...

And we're doosan! (finished!)

Justin and I had our huge final language test today. We have two and a half days left here in our little soum/ village. We were so nervous about taking this spoken test. I was practicing with my little sister, Davasoren, last night. She is sooo cute! I will miss her so much. I talked about myself to her in mongolian and after I was finished she said with such excitement " Very good, Ashlie! you are a very good Mongolian speaker!" It was so cute to see her being my teacher. She is great. After I finished talking about myself she said with a serious face 'Again.' So I repeated my 'speech' about myself about 4 times last night and practiced conversing with her. Then this morning at 8am, she came into my ger and said 'Again. Again. Again.'

The test went well. Justin and I feel like we did alright. We will get our results on Sunday (great b-day present, huh?). Not only that, but.....on Sunday we find out where we are going to be placed for the next two years! We are so excited to find out.

So now our training/ schooling is all finished. We have some playtime to actually rest and hang out with each other (other Americans). I don't know what to do with myself (well I have some mounds of clothes that need handwashing and packing, probably throw a couple pounds of mutton in my mouth, etc. )

Less than 2 weeks!

Me being lead by my sister on one of their horses. YEE HAW


Justin and his family.


Justin and his crazy family! :) outisde of their home.

My family all outisde of my ger! *My Ger!!*

These are our beautiful Mongolian Language teachers! We would not survive Mongolia without them! They are great friends of ours!

me and Justin in Mongolian Lang. Class

My sister, Davasoren & my baby brother Davajargel--we took sooo many pictures and he NEVER opened his eyes (we ARE related!)

Justin and I right outside the school. He was walking me home.

My grandma (emee) and my brothers Davanem & Davajargel.


I've really enjoyed living in this little village & will miss it once our last 2 weeks are up, however Justin and I are very excited to begin our journey as teachers and move to our new home! We will be assigned new sites on August 15th (my b-day!!) and will have our "swearing -in" ceremony (graduation from being trainees, to actual Peace Corps Volunteers) on August 20th. Then we're off to start our next 2 years! We are both scared and excited at the same time. Up until now Peace Corps has been holding our hand thoughout our training. Once we are at our site, we will need to find new Mongolian friends and try to fit in as much as possible (to make our lives as foreigners easier). Finding Mongolians friends is very hard with our slow and limited knowledge of their langauge--but our language is definitely getting better!

I am really close to the other 10 americans that were placed in this village with me--so it will be very hard to separate from them. We've made some really good friendships.

Here's a funny story to cure this sappy mood I'm in...

So I received a pacakge from my lovely sister, Nita, last week. I got the package right before class and opened it up...it was soo exciting! However, opening it in class was kinda funny. It was stuffed with tampons-- no big deal, I just grabbed them all and stuffed them in my backpack so none would fall out of my opened package. (that wasn't the only great thing I received in that package, but we must move on with the story.) Class began and I sat at the back. I was observing a American teach an English Class...so I was taking notes. Well the teacher starts leading the class outside for an activity, so I get up and follow (leaving my backpack in class). When we get back inside from the activity, I notice that my backpack is open, my jacket is on the floor and my wallet is on top (I NEVER leave it on top). So I quickly checked my cash and nothing was missing. I calmed down and figured Justin came in and needed something from my bag.... Well at the end of class I was helping the teacher clean up the classroom when I find a tampon wrapper on the classroom floor (mongolians don't have tampons...at least not in my village), so I was very curious& embarrassed as to why one was on the floor. I check my backpack again and noticed that the candy I had in my backpack was missing and a tampon wraper was on the floor--- the conclusion was some kid was searching my backpack for candy, found the candy then saw all those colorful wrapped items and took one to try it out (probably has NO idea what it is--but it ISN'T candy!). It made me laugh-- even though pick pocketing is a serious thing here.